Garment accessory



July 31, 1956 Filed May 22,. 1953 G. HELLER GARMENT ACCESSORY 2 Sheets-Sheet l fie. 5

INVENTOR. (x04 HELLER A TTORNE'YS July 1956 G. HELLER 2,756,436

GARMENT ACCESSORY Filed may 22, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 56. f0 INVENTOR.

601. 0A HELLER Ar roelvsys United States Patent O GARMENT ACCESSORY Golda Heller, Cleveland, Ohio Application May 22, 1953, Serial No. 356,811

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-266) The present invention relates to an article which is so constituted as to be adapted for use in attaching, but nevertheless readily detaching, two parts or portions of a garment.

This is a continuation-in-part of my application, Serial No. 282,997, filed April 18, 1952, now abandoned.

The invention is perhaps particularly adaptable to feminine wearing apparel either outer wearing apparel or lingerie.

ln'the case of such apparel as mentioned there are parts of a garment which it is desirable should be changed more or less frequently and a fresh part substituted for the part removed, such being particularly true when the part to be removed requires cleansing before the main portion of the garment requires such cleansing.

Primarily the invention comprises, as an article of manufacture and sale, two strips of flexible material such as fabric, which strips may be superimposed and when so superimposed provide oppositely disposed perforations, loops or equivalent structure which are adapted to be engaged by a lacing member offlexible material and the strips are to be secured and retained in their superimposed position and can be readily disengaged by withdrawing the flexible lacing member.

More specifically, the invention comprises two tape-like pieces of fabric which are of the type usually formed on looms and which mating strips of fabric are provided with openings or slots so arranged that when the strips are joined by means of a lacing member due to the tension, the lacing member will be drawn into close contact to form a continuous body free from bulges or inequalities.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation with portions in perspective showing one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the showing in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a section upon the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective View showing a modification;

Fig. 6 is an elevation with portions in perspective of the modified form of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section substantially through the center of the strips shown in Fig. 6;

Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively plan views of the respective members or strips with the portions thereof slotted and which members are thereby associated in a definite manner; and,

Fig. 10 is an elevation showing the lacing member.

Referring to the drawing and particularly Fig. 1, 1 and 2 represent two strips of material each of which are provided with perforations or eyelets, which perforations or eyelets are so spaced that when the strips 1 and 2 are superimposed the eyelets in each strip will be oppositely disposed with respect to the eyelets of the accompanying strip. A lacing member 3 is at one of its ends attached to one of the strips as indicated at 4, and when the strips 1 and 2 are superimposed, the lacing member may be passed 2,756,436 Patented July 31, 1956 through the eyelet members in a lacing fashion to thereby form an attachment between the strips 1 and 2.

The eyelets are definitely spaced by intervening lands and the lacing member is threaded through the eyelets in a manner so that upon one side of the superimposed strips there are short loops of the lacing member and upon the opposite side of the superimposed strips there are long loops. This arrangement is purposeful in that when the lacing member is threaded through the eyelets according to the arrangement just above set forth, the two strip mem bers are brought into much closer relationship that is to say, as to their flatness, than can be accomplished by other arrangements of eyelets and lacing member when the lacing member is tensioned. The matter of the strips being as flat as possible, is important, particularly when the strips are used in connection with ladies wearing apparel, since in such use there can be no bulging effects,

but the strips must be flat.

The strips 1 and 2 may be of any desired length suitable for the usefor which they are to be put and when so used one of the members such for instance, as the member 1, is attached to a garment which may be generally represented at 5 as, indicated at 6. The removable portion of the garment will be attached to the strip 2, and when so attached and the strips 1 and 2 are superimposed as beforedescribed, and the lacing member 3 threaded through the openings or eyelets, in the strips 1 and 2, will effect an attachment between the two parts of the garment which are respectively attached to the strips 1 and 2.

In Fig. 3 there is a modified form disclosed wherein the strips 1 and 2*- are provided with attached loops such as indicated at '7. The loops on the respective strips 1 and 2 being equally spaced from each other so that when the strips 1 and 2 are superimposed the lacing member 3 may be threaded through the respective loops in the manner indicated in Fig. 4 and thus accomplish the attachment of the one strip with respect to the other.

In Fig. 5 a modified form is shown in which the strip 1 and the strip 2 are provided with diagonally arranged loops 7 and it will of course be obvious that diagonal eyelets or openings may be employed in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 1, the flexible lacing member 3 being attached as indicated at 4 to one of the strips and available for threading through the attaching members 7 in the same manner as that described with respect to Figs. 1 and 3.

The flexible lacing member is provided at its free end with a stiffening means as indicated at 8 in Fig. 5 which may be accompanied by a metal tip, plastic tip, or merely impregnating the end of the lacing member with a material Which will stiflen the same.

The foregoing provision at the end of the flexible lacing member is applicable to the lacing member disclosed in Figs. 1 and 3 as well as that disclosed in Fig. 5. In each of the various forms of the invention which have been described the flexible strips are utilized by attachment to the garment parts or members in the same manner as that which was described with respect to the construction shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

Referring to Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, there is shown a form of the present invention which comprises two tapelike members 10 and 11 which are of fabric which may conveniently be made upon a proper loom so as to provide the slots in the strips, as will be explained. Strip 10 comprises a series of elongated slots 12 with intermediate portions which we would call lands 13, and from the drawing it will be seen that the slots 12 are essentially uniform in character and that the intervening lands 13 are essentially of uniform size but of lesser length than the length of the slots. With respect to the strip 11, slots l t-a and 1417 are provided. The slots 14:: are of lesser length than the slots 14b and each is of lesser length than the slots '12 "of strip 10. The slots 14a and 14b alternate and there are spacer hands '15 between each succeeding slot. Both of these strips of fabric which have just been described may convenientlybe made upon looms and the adjustment made for providing the open spaces or slots. 'I'n'assenibling the strips 12 and 11, eachlland 113 is made to come opposite a slot 14a, as clearly show in Figs. 6 and 7, while the adjacent opening 14b together with the spacer lands .15 on either side of that opening will "be essentially encompassed by a slot '12. This will be the arrangement throughout the entire length of an assembled pair of strips. The lacer member in passing through and above and below the various lands and spacer lands which have been described is made to pass such that the lacing member 16 in every instance extends above a land 13 of the strip such as the strip '10, and then below the spacer lands 15 which is accomplished because the said spacer lands come substantially opposite a slot 12 of the strip 10. This arrangement is continued throughout the length with the result that when the later member is pulled, as it were, through these openings in the fabric strips the tendency will be to pull each land '13 downwardly into its opposite slot 14a in the strip 11 and on the other hand the tendency with respect to the spacer lands 15 will be to pull them upwardly into the slot 12 with respect to which they are oppositely dis osed.

'This is a very important feature of construction because bythe arrangement that has just been described the "two strips maybe brought as close together in a flattened condition as is reasonably possible "and this is an exceedingly important matter, particularly where the strips maybe used in connection with the attaching of two parts of a garment which is of a very lightweight material so that the attachment can be efiected by producing the connection in a flattened condition, "thus avoiding any appearance of bulging or uneven contour of'the garment.

Although the slots 14a and 14b have been shown and described as being of difierentlengths, it will be apparent that these slots may be equal in length, if desired. Also, in some instances, the slots 14b may be omitted. 'Ihese and other obvious modifications of the construction herein QII , 4 shown and described may be made Without departing from the invention herein disclosed andare included within the scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An apparel attaching device the combination of two 7 strips of flexible fabric, one of said strips having elongated slots with uniformly arranged intervening lands, the other of said strips having slots "of lesser length than those of the first strip with spacer lands between the succeeding slots, the two strips being superimposed with each land of the first-mentioned strip oppositely disposed with respect to a slot of the second-mentioned strip and each pair of spacer lands is oppositely disposed 'with'respect 'to a slot of the first-mentioned strip and a lacing member threaded through such slots to successively engage first above and then beneath the succeeding lands and spacer lands whereupon when the lacing member istightened all of the said lands tend to be drawn intothe slots of the strips with respect to which they are opposite.

2. An apparel attaching device the combination of two strips of flexible fabric, one of said strips'having elongated slots with uniformly arranged intervening lands, the other of said strips having slots of lesser 'length than those of the References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,966,398 Sonnet. July 10, 1934 2,140,249 Ruth Dec. 13,1938 2,405,788 Henschel ....Aug. 13, 1946 Gage May 12, 19.14 

